Facebook announced on Monday that they are buying out the company for $1 billion USD and will be bringing the 13 employees over to Facebook to help the social network with other image and photography solutions.

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced the new acquisition in one of his blog posts, noting that Facebook will be “keeping and building on Instagram’s strengths and features rather than just trying to integrate everything into Facebook.”

We believe these are different experiences that complement each other. But in order to do this well, we need to be mindful about keeping and building on Instagram’s strengths and features rather than just trying to integrate everything into Facebook.

That’s why we’re committed to building and growing Instagram independently. Millions of people around the world love the Instagram app and the brand associated with it, and our goal is to help spread this app and brand to even more people.

Instagram has gained lots of attention since its introduction, being named Apple’s iPhone app of the year for 2011. The company has achieved great milestones, specifically in adding new users, creating new features, and devising a simple and easy to use software to edit photos and share them. This is exactly what Facebook has been looking for, and this acquisition will likely benefit them greatly.